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Dr. Gibson is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Texas Tech University. He earned his Ph.D. in theoretical atomic and molecular physics (dissertation title: A Study of the Polarization Interaction with Application to Low-Energy Electron-H2 Collisions) from the University of Oklahoma while working under the supervision of Professor Michael A. Morrison. Dr. Morrison's own Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Neal Lane, has recently served as Director of the NSF and as National Science Advisor to President Clinton.
After graduation, Gibson accepted a three year appointment as a Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. At Caltech, he worked with Professor Vincent McKoy on developing a multichannel Schwinger variational code to perform ab initio electron-molecule collisions. This code---originally implemented on the Cray 1 computers at NCAR and later on the CRAY X-MP at NASA Ames---was used to perform the first exact-static-exchange calculations for electrons scattering from non-linear molecules and to obtain some of the first multichannel electron impact excitation cross sections.
Since coming to Texas Tech, Gibson has broadened his research interests to include positron interactions with atoms and molecules. To this end, he and his students have developed an accurate, non-empirical method of including the short-range correlation between the positron and the electrons of the target. Good agreement with measured positron scattering results has been obtained for He, Ne, Ar, and H2 targets. This method is readily extensible to larger targets, such as N2, CO2, C2H2, and SF6.
In support of experimental colleagues in the departments of physics and electrical engineering, Gibson and his students have developed Monte Carlo simulation codes to simulate the electrical breakdown that occurs at high voltage across the surface of an insulator in vacuum. They have also modified quantum chemistry codes to help locate the stable muon positions in High-Tc superconducting materials.
Much of Gibson's current work centers on the development and use of modern computational techniques, especially highly concurrent methods. In the late spring of 2000 Gibson and his group constructed a 16-node Beowulf cluster named Gamera for under $15,000 to support their research. A newer and more powerful 32-node cluster (Gamera Mark II) went online in the late summer of 2002.
Page Last Modified February 20, 2007